"E… Emily?"
I hadn't meant to say it—the word simply tumbled out, pulled from somewhere deep in my chest where hope and fear had tangled themselves into an impossible knot.
"Y...You know that thing?" Maribel asked me.
I understood immediately how this must look through her eyes. The blur of inhuman speed, the uncanny fluidity of movement that seemed to defy the laws of physics—to her, this could only be another variant of the Hybrid Infected, something monstrous and deadly. She had no context for what I was seeing.
"Yeah…"
My feet moved of their own accord, carrying me forward with careful, measured steps.
It was definitely Emily. There could be no doubt.
My mind erupted with questions—a torrential flood of them that crashed against each other in chaotic waves. They came too fast to catch, too numerous to sort through, each one clamoring for attention.
The memory of that day came back to me.
